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Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been
struck and killed by motor vehicles.
Mammals are the animals most likely to be recorded as roadkill. To
reduce the possibility of striking animals some road authorities
use signs or create underpasses.

In Australia, specific actions taken to
protect against the variety of animals that can damage vehicles –
such as bullbars (usually known in Australia
as 'roo bars', in reference to kangaroos) –
indicate that the Australian experience has some unique features
with road kill.

Research

The Simmons Society was founded by Professor Roger M. Knutson of Luther
College in Decorah, Iowa, US to further
studies of road fauna. Professor Knutson also published a
book called "Common Animals of Roads, Street, and Highway: A Field
Guide To Flattened Fauna".

The number of road fauna present on a given stretch of freeway is
said to follow a Poisson
distribution. Some researchers believe that lunar phases have an effect on the amount of
road kills. Further study is needed to support this hypothesis.

A recent study showed that insects too are prone to a very high
risk of roadkill incidence . Research showed interesting patterns
in insect/butterfly road kills and relation with the vehicle
density. Although the insect community is equally at risk, much of
the attention goes to bigger, more charismatic animals.

About 350,000 to 27 million birds are estimated to be killed on
European roads each year.

Breakdown by species

In 1993,
25 schools throughout New
England participated in a roadkill study involving 1,923
animal deaths. By category, the fatalities were:

This study may not have considered differences in observability
among taxa (i.e. dead raccoons are easier to see than dead frogs),
and has not been published in peer-reviewed scientific
literature.

State Wildlife Roadkill Identification Guide

The first wildlife roadkill identification guide produced by a
state agency in North America was published by the British Columbia
Ministry of Transportation (BCMoT) in Canada in 2008. BCMoT’s
“Wildlife Roadkill Identification Guide” focused on the most common
large carnivores and ungulates found in British Columbia. The guide
was developed to assist BCMoT's maintenance contractors in
identifying wildlife carcasses found on provincial highways as part
of their responsibilities for BCMoT’s Wildlife Accident Reporting
System (WARS).

Michigan roadkill analysis

In 1994,
Michigan reported
56,666 deer collisions, of which five resulted in human fatalities,
according to Mark Matthew Braunstein of the Santa Cruz Hub.
The problem is so pervasive that, according to an article by Hank
Pellissier of the San Francisco
Chronicle, Michigan uses roadkill statistics to estimate its
deer population.

Roadkill prevention

Collisions with animals can have many negative consequences,
besides the obvious consequence of likely death to the victim.

Lost pet skunks are particularly
vulnerable since they lack a sense of direction and cannot see
objects more than about 3 m (10 ft) away with any clarity.

Collisions with animals with antlers (e.g., deer) are particularly
dangerous as the head has a tendency to separate and come through
the windshield , but any large,
long-legged animal (e.g. horses, larger cattle, camels) can pose a
similar cabin incursion hazard. Injury to humans due to driver
failure to maintain control of a vehicle either while avoiding, or
during and immediately after an animal impact is also not
infrequent.

Deer horns can be mounted on vehicles to
warn deer of approaching automobiles, though their effectiveness is
disputed .

Night driving

Although strikes can happen at any time of day, deer tend to move
at dawn and dusk and are particularly active during the
October–December mating season.
Driving at night presents its own challenges: Nocturnal species are on the move, and
visibility, particularly side visibility, is reduced. When
headlights approach a nocturnal animal, this makes it hard for the
creature to see the approaching car (nocturnal animals see better
in the dark than in the light). Furthermore, the glare of vehicle
headlights can dazzle some species, such as rabbits: They will freeze in the road rather than
flee. The simple tactics of reducing speed and scanning
both sides of the road for foraging deer can improve driver safety at night.
Drivers may see the glow of a deer's eyes before seeing the animal
itself.

Wildlife crossings

Wildlife crossings allow animals
to travel over or underneath roads. They are most widely used in
Europe, but have also been installed in a few
U.S. locations and in parts of Western
Canada. As new highways cause habitats to become increasingly fragmented, these
crossings could play a crucial role in protecting endangered
species.

In the United States, sections of road known to have heavy deer
cross-traffic will usually have a warning sign depicting a bounding
deer. Similar signs exist for moose, elk and other species.

In the American West, roads
may pass through large areas designated as "open range", meaning
that no fences separate drivers from large animals such as cattle or bison. A driver may
round a bend to find a small herd standing in the road. Open range
areas are generally marked with signage and protected by a cattle guard.

A few states now have sophisticated systems to protect motorists
from large animals. One of these systems is called RADS (Roadway Animal Detection System). A solar powered sensor detects animals near the
roadway and flashes a light to alert oncoming drivers.

Fencing

Health aspects

People using highway bridges for shelter should be aware that a
bridge constitutes a trap for any animal that wanders on to it, and
runoff cascading from the bridge during a rainstorm has often come
into intimate contact with long-dead roadkill.

Cultural aspects

The fact that most people's encounters with roadkill occur long
enough after the time of death for the carcass to be further
macerated by traffic, or begin to decompose has contributed to
strong negative or ironic cultural associations and taboos. For
example, when the Tennessee legislature attempted to legalize the
utilization of accidentally killed animals, they became the butt of
stereotyping and derisive humor .

Roadkill is sometimes used as an art form. Some of these
artists are formally trained in traditional taxidermy preparation while others are merely
experimenting. Roadkill as art is not new, American artist Stephen Paternite has been exhibiting
roadkill pieces since the 1970s..

See also

Trivia

Armadillos are a commonly squashed animal
because their first instinct to a threat (in this case, a car) is
to jump in the air. The car does not stop, and therefore kills the
animal.

In
Japan, a railway roadkill
is sometimes referred to as "tuna"
(maguro; マグロ).Because the dead body's head and feet are
chopped off by the train, it looks like a piece of frozen tuna in a
fish
market (the tail of a tuna is always chopped off to
examine its fat content). See
マグロ Tuna (Railroad Accident)

There has been at least one case in the United States where a jail
inmate was allegedly forced to eat roadkill.

We reject Sheriff Clegg's contention that the relevant law
governing his conduct was not clearly established at the time
Appellee was allegedly served contaminated roadkill meat in
prison., Goodrick v. Clegg, 129 F.3d 125, Unpublished
Disposition, 9th Cir.(Idaho), Nov 13, 1997.

Plaintiff Goodrick was incarcerated at Kootenai County Jail
in Idaho on two occasions.While there he was fed
roadkill, which he claims made him very sick., Goodrick v.
Clegg, 210 F.3d 382, Unpublished Disposition, 9th Cir.(Idaho), Jan
4, 2000.